Differences between email marketing automation and email marketing campaigns
Marketing automation is booming. Platforms such as Hubspot, Eloqua or Marketo, and agencies specialised in lead nurturing strategies and conversion funnel management, are occupying a key space in the field of interactive marketing. In this context, it is pertinent to consider under what circumstances the complementary actions of mass email marketing and marketing automation are appropriate.
As a starting point, we propose to establish the difference between demand marketing and response marketing. The first, as its name suggests, aims to generate demand for products or services in the consumer. It is therefore about communicating content (the product, its attributes and benefits) that the user is not actively seeking, either because they are unaware of its existence, or because they have not become aware of the benefits it can bring them. When we talk about response marketing, the model is different. In this case, the user is already aware of the product and its benefits. Marketing has to be oriented, not to generate a previously non-existent demand, since it already exists, but to respond in the most appropriate and timely manner to the signs of interest (purchase intention) shown by the consumer with the aim of converting (closing) the sale. The demand already exists but has not yet crystallised into a transaction, and marketing automation is ideally suited to achieve this.
A paradigmatic industry in the application of demand marketing is the retail industry. The big fashion brands are experts in generating demand (impulse buying), articulating a series of tactics and disciplines both offline (window dressing, POS, TV advertising, etc.) and online (Display, Email Marketing, Social Media, etc.).
An example of response marketing would be found in those industries where the buying cycle is more rational and prolonged, where there is a deliberation and analysis of the pros and cons of the product to be purchased. For example, if someone is considering investing time and money in studying for an MBA, the first thing they will do is find out about the different alternatives on the market, compare them, go back and look at them in more detail, etc. In this case, the business school will have to manage (respond to) the prospect's expressions of interest by sending them information, contacting them by phone or inviting them to meet with them.
We have described two areas that conceptually it is reasonable to differentiate because they respond to different realities. However, in most cases they coexist and feed each other. Thus, it is intuitive that the use of email marketing in one and the other case must be different and complementary (not exclusive). A good way to generate demand is through email marketing.plication of mass email marketing strategies (mass does not mean undifferentiated. It is proven that mass email marketing gives better results the more relevant, segmented and personalised it is). Once the demand is generated, we can carry out automated actions (triggers) triggered by the user's responses: they have visited the e-commerce (abandoned cart), they have downloaded content, etc.
In each industry and sector, one approach or the other will be more important, and for this reason there are tools and specific strategies. But we believe it is important to take a holistic and open view of the business and to make the best of both approaches.
